1. Technical Field
Example embodiments of the present invention relate in general to an operating system (OS) switching system and more specifically to an OS switching method for quickly switching and using a plurality of OSs in an information processing system.
2. Related Art
An OS is a set of programs that control and adjust the overall operation of a computer system. The programs act as an interface between hardware and application programs and manage computer resources. That is, the OS enables interaction between a user and a computer, boots the computer, determines a working procedure to control input/output operations, controls execution of programs, and stores and manages data and files.
Conventional information processing systems are capable of using only one OS for a specific duration. For the specific duration, when desiring to use another OS, the convention information processing systems need to shut down an OS that is being currently used and then use a dual boot to newly boots the other OS.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional OS switching method in an information processing system.
Referring to FIG. 1, when switching an OS from a first OS 110 to a second OS 130, the information processing system shuts down the first OS 110 that is being currently used, selects a second OS 130 to be used with a boot loader 120, and boots the second OS 130.
Such a mechanism includes an operation of shutting down and booting an OS that expends much time, and thus causes inconvenience to users because tens of seconds to several minutes is taken.
Moreover, since the mechanism newly boots an OS, the mechanism cannot maintain a previous working environment.